When a teenager gets caught in the middle of a mall takeover, will she be able to put a stop to the leader's plans... or will she be too distracted? Veck/OC. Completed! Sequel is now up, but is rated M so you have to look in 'All Entries" to see it.

Okay. everyone inhale, hold it, and please read these few short notes.

1. I am sorry. Really really sorry for keeping everyone waiting. I got very busy (cliche, I know, but true!) and seem to have lost interest in the characters.

2. BUT! before you flip out, let me just reassure you guys that, yes, i am continuing this story. (alright, you can exhale now! :D ) This chapter is the last in this book, and then i will go on to part dos! Yes, you read correctly; i am continuing. Alot.

3. And there willl be lemon! not in this book, but the next, oh yes. (its okay to scream, veck-lovers.)

Now then. I think this authors note has rambled on for long enough, dont you? So at last, may I present to you lovely adoring readers, who have waited so patiently (maybe) through out my inactivity...

Fuck roots, fuck dirt, and fuck leaves. Fuck nature all together. And most of all, Alyssa thought furiously as she trudged along a few yards behind him, fuck Veck.

Alyssa was in the middle of some forest in god-knows-where, cold, scantily clad (how smart was she?), terrified, with absolutely no options except to follow a creeping freaking serial killer criminal man with nothing but a flashlight and a dizzying array of weapons. A man who, as she had tried (and failed) not to think about on this adventure, had just hours ago KISSED HER.

Alyssa wanted to scream at him. Demand answers or complain. Or both. Where are we going? Are we ever gonna stop? I'm freezing. I'm hungry. Are you going to kill me? Rape me? Let me go? Why don't you speak much? Oh yeah, and WHY THE HELL DID YOU KISS ME!? But she didn't. For the obvious reason of being shot/bombed/stabbed to death.

After what seemed like hours of unbearable, awkward, silent walking, when she thought her bare ankles were surely bleeding, when she was so freezing and hungry that she was suprised she was still alive, Alyssa saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Er... trail thing.

And it came in the form of what looked, at first, like an vast, empty parking lot scattered in places with impossibly tall, towering street lights, surrounded by a thick, tall barbed wire fence. Fun, Alyssa thought, as she followed Veck up a small hill to the fence.

As they climbed the hill, Alyssa thought for seemingly the first time about her family. Where were they? Were they okay? Were they worried? Angry? Would she even-

Alyssa stopped that thought from fully forming in her mind. Because if it did, she would lose her cool. Start tearing up. Start cussing, screaming. It pissed her off, and that pissed Veck off. And that, would most likely result in her death.

So, for now, Alyssa had to stick it out, she resolved as they neared the top of the hill, which was now pretty much clear of all trees, roots and dirt. Oddly enough, grass had taken their place. By the time Alyssa caught up to Veck at the intimidating-looking fence, he had already sliced a large slit in the metal, large enough for both of them to fit through, and was snapping closed a viciously sharp knife. Something to the right caught Alyssa's eye as Veck stepped cautiously through the hole in the fence. It was a worn metal sign, just barely hanging on to the rusty fence.

Private grounds. Trespassers will be shot.

Alyssa inhaled, her eyes widening at the crystal clear threat. She looked up at Veck, who was now waiting impatiently on the concrete ground that stretched forever beyond the fence, her tired eyes weakly pleading with his intense-as-ever, dark, waiting ones. But she could only look at him for so long without feeling some sort of twisted flutter in her stomach. So she looked away, back at the grass, and sighed shakily, full of resignition and regret. Squeezing her eyelids shut, Alyssa stepped just as cautiously through the space, the angry twists of metal just barely scraping her cool skin. Feeling one sandal touch the concrete, she exhaled and brought the other one over to join it. Okay, she thought. You're okay. Alyssa smiled, ever so slightly, and dared to look at Veck. But her eyes landed instead on his back, as he had turned around to face something Alyssa hadn't even noticed before.

Her smile faded when her eyes landed on a giant airplane.

So this was her fate? It couldn't be. She couldn't get on this. They wouldn't make her, would they? He wouldn't.

Through her blurred eyes she faintly saw Veck turn to look at her, before walking toward the craft, as if commanding her to follow.

All she could do was sniffle once, looked straight starless sky, and reverse her tears as she stepped forward.

She would get out of this, and she would see her family again. If it was the last thing she ever did.

IMPORTANT! Sequel up now, but it IS rated M! So, you have to look in rated M entries to be able to see it! :)

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.